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was it necessary, for one whom he wished not long after to bring down, to deprive him after having only given him a taste? Besides these things, we believe that God also agrees with the establishment of a kingdom, if with any other greatest thing. But to wish to scatter God's counsel is both audacious, and insolent, and also holds a great danger for those who dare. Therefore, considering these things, it is necessary that you too cooperate with the right of the kingdom and not so neglect us, who are being choked to such an extent by our thoughts. Why then, is not repentance appointed for the church, have not its divine laws been set forth, do you not minister to the many according to those laws? Or are the laws of the church set forth differently for emperors than for the many? But if not, but if there are no ordinances of repentance with you, they exist elsewhere in the churches, and I will run to them and be ministered to by them. Therefore, we have said what is on our mind, but it is for you to consider what must be done, deliberating together with him; for I will no longer endure to suffer incurable things. For it is good either to be healed by you, or to seek the means of healing from elsewhere.” When the emperor had said these things to the high priests and had, as it were, skirmished before the battle, they, seeming to be vexed at each of the things said, were clearly not accepting at all the patriarch’s actions towards the emperor; and for this reason, they themselves proposed many things and at the same time strung them together, wishing to appease the sovereign. Not only that, but they also promised that, if only the emperor himself would send for him, they would take up the great matters.

βʹ. How the sovereign sent Joseph of Galesios to the patriarch, seeking absolution from the excommunication. The emperor accordingly sent many others one by one, asking the hierarch to relieve his despondency, since he was ready, as he promised, to fulfill what was commanded; and finally, sending Joseph, the head of the monastery of Galesios, who was indeed more famously called Galesiotes, a spiritual man 335 and appointed as a father to the emperor, he beseeched him to accept the embassy and to assent to the request. But the patriarch, though much entreated by the high priests on behalf of the emperor, who said it was not right for him to be held for so long under the penance, and much requested by that spiritual and divine man to administer the discipline in another way, by loosing the bond, and to impose on the emperor the appropriate penalties, instead grew even more wild and was unchangeable in his opinion, so as to rebuke the ambassadors and to firmly restrain Joseph himself, for daring, as it were, to sponsor the emperor's cause against his will. A report is also current among many that he even imposed a penance, to the effect that he should not act as a spiritual father; which, whether it happened and was observed, or was transgressed and then loosed, or remained unloosed, or even if it did not happen was rumored, as Joseph, who later became patriarch, insisted when defending himself on this matter, nevertheless from this a great storm broke out in the church, as the Arsenites, being in schism, brought forward a strong accusation against him when he became patriarch.

γʹ. How a bill of accusation against the patriarch was given to the emperor. Then, therefore, at the beginning of Boedromion and when the customary fasts were being observed, during the celebration of the feast which it is usual to call the Akathist, one of the clergy, serving the patriarch among the notaries after their primicerius, whom many are accustomed to call reverently the mesites, with the surname Hepsetopoulos, having composed a bill full of accusations, gladly handed it to the emperor, it being then night, after the completion of the hymnody. And he, calling together at once those of the clergy who were present, asked if they too were privy 337 with Hepsetopoulos to the things that had been done by him; and when those who heard could not assent except for one or two, he inquired about the main points and what sort of reputation the man who handed him the bill had. And while they testified that the giver was of moderate standing, concerning the main points they pleaded necessity

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ἔδει, ὃν μετ' οὐ πολὺ κατάγειν ἠβούλετο, ὡς γεύσαντα μόνον ἀποστερεῖν; Χωρὶς δὲ τούτων καὶ Θεόν, εἴπερ τινὶ ἄλλῳ μεγίστῳ, καὶ καταστάσει βασιλείας συνιέναι πιστεύομεν. Θεοῦ δὲ βουλὴν διασκεδᾶν ἐθέλειν, ὡς μὲν τολμηρόν, ὡς δ' αὔθαδες, ὡς δὲ καὶ μέγαν ἔχον τοῖς τολμῶσι τὸν κίνδυνον. Ταῦτα τοίνυν ἐνθυμουμένους, δεῖ καὶ ὑμᾶς τῷ δικαίῳ τῆς βασιλείας συμπράττειν καὶ μὴ οὕτω καταμελεῖν ἡμῶν, ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἀπαγχομένων τοῖς λογισμοῖς. Τί δαί, οὐ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ μετάνοια ὥρισται, οὐ νόμοι ταύτης θεῖοι προβέβληνται, οὐχ ὑμεῖς κατ' ἐκείνους τοὺς πολλοὺς θεραπεύετε; Ἦ τοῖς βασιλεῦσι διαφερόντως πρὸς τοὺς πολλοὺς οἱ τῆς ἐκκλησίας πρόκεινται νόμοι; Εἰ δ' οὖν, ἀλλ' εἰ μὴ παρ' ὑμῖν μετανοίας θεσμοί, ἀλλαχοῦ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν εἰσι, καὶ προσδραμοῦμαι ταύταις καὶ παρ' ἐκείνων θεραπευθήσομαι. Ἡμῖν μὲν οὖν τὰ κατὰ γνώμην εἴρηται, ὑμῖν δὲ σκεπτέον τὸ ποιητέον βουλευομένοις συνάμ' ἐκείνῳ· οὐδὲ γὰρ καὶ εἰσέτι ἀνέξομαι πάσχειν ἀνίατα. Καλὸν γὰρ ἢ παρ' ὑμῖν ἰᾶσθαι, ἢ ζητεῖν τὸν τρόπον τῆς θεραπείας ἑτέρωθεν.» Ταῦτα τοῦ βασιλέως τοῖς ἀρχιερεῦσι διαλαλήσαντος καὶ οἷον πρὸς τὰ τῆς μάχης ἀκροβολισαμένου, ἐκεῖνοι, ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν λεγομένων τοῖς ἀχθομένοις προσεοικότες, δῆλοι ἦσαν τὰ πρὸς βασιλέα τοῦ πατριάρχου συνόλως οὐκ ἀποδεχόμενοι· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πολλὰ καὶ αὐτοὶ προτιθέντες καὶ ἅμα συνεί ροντες, θεραπεύειν ἤθελον τὸν κρατοῦντα. Οὐ μὴν δὲ ἀλλὰ καὶ καθυπ ισχνοῦντο, μόνον καὶ αὐτοῦ βασιλέως προσπέμψαντος, αὐτοὶ τὰ μεγάλα συλλήψεσθαι.

βʹ. Ὅπως τὸν τοῦ Γαλησίου Ἰωσὴφ πρὸς τὸν πατριάρχην ἀπέστελλεν ὁ κρατῶν, ζητῶν λύσιν τοῦ ἀφορισμοῦ. Ὁ γοῦν βασιλεὺς καὶ ἄλλους μὲν καθ' ἕνα πλείστους ἀπέστελλεν, ἀξιῶν τὸν ἱεράρχην λῦσαί οἱ τὴν ἀθυμίαν, ἑτοίμῳ ὄντι, ὡς ἐκεῖνος ὑπισχνεῖτο, τὸ κελευόμενον ἐκπληροῦν· τέλος δὲ καὶ τὸν τῆς μονῆς τοῦ Γαλησίου προϊστά μενον Ἰωσήφ, ὃς δὴ καὶ Γαλησίου φανερώτερον ἐκαλεῖτο, ἄνδρα πνευματικὸν 335 καὶ εἰς πατέρα τεταγμένον τῷ βασιλεῖ, ἀποστέλλων κατηντιβόλει δέχεσθαι τὴν πρεσβείαν καὶ συγκατανεύειν τῇ ἀξιώσει. Ἀλλ' ὁ πατριάρχης, πολλὰ μὲν παρὰ τῶν ἀρχιερέων ὑπὲρ τοῦ βασιλέως ἱκετευόμενος, ὡς οὐκ ἄξιον λεγόντων οὕτως ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον τῷ ἐπιτιμίῳ συνίσχεσθαι, πολλὰ δὲ καὶ παρὰ τοῦ πνευμα τικοῦ ἐκείνου καὶ θείου ἀνδρὸς ἀξιούμενος, ἐφ' ᾧ τὴν παιδείαν ἄλλως οἰκο νομοίη, τὸν δεσμὸν λύσας, καὶ προστιμῴη τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν εἰκότων, ὁ δὲ καὶ μᾶλλον ἠγρίαινε καὶ ἀμεταθέτως εἶχε τῆς γνώμης, ὡς καὶ τοῖς πρεσβεύουσιν ἐπιπλήττειν καὶ αὐτῷ δὴ τῷ Ἰωσὴφ γενναίως ἐπέχειν, τολμῶντι ὡς δῆθεν τὰ τῆς βασιλέως ἀναδοχῆς παρὰ τὴν ἐκείνου θέλησιν. Αἱρεῖ δὲ καὶ λόγος παρὰ πολλοῖς ὡς καὶ ἐπιτιμήσειεν, ἐφ' ᾧ μηδὲ πνευματικὸς ἀναδέχοιτο· ὃ δὴ κἂν γεγονὸς ἢ ἐφυλάχθη, ἢ καὶ παραβαθὲν ἐλύθη ἢ καὶ ἄλυτον ἔμεινεν, κἂν μὴ γεγονὸς ἐφημίσθη, ὡς καὶ ὁ Ἰωσήφ, πατριαρχεύσας ὕστερον, ἀπολο γούμενος ὑπὲρ τούτου, διισχυρίζετο, ὅμως πολὺς ἐντεῦθεν ἀνερράγη κλύδων τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, ὡς ἰσχυρὸν προτεινόντων τῶν Ἀρσενιατῶν κατ' ἐκείνου ἔγκλημα πατριαρχεύσαντος σχιζομένων.

γʹ. Ὅπως λίβελλος κατηγορίας κατὰ τοῦ πατριάρχου ἐδόθη τῷ βασιλεῖ. Τότε τοίνυν, βοηδρομιῶνος ἱσταμένου καὶ τῶν συνήθων νηστειῶν τελου μένων, ἑορτῆς ἀγομένης ἣν Ἀκάθιστον σύνηθες ὀνομάζειν, τῶν τις τοῦ κλήρου, ἐν νοταρίοις τῷ πατριάρχῃ τελῶν μετὰ τὸν σφῶν πριμμικήριον, ὃν καὶ μεσίτην εἰώθασιν οἱ πολλοὶ σεμνύνοντες λέγειν, τοὐπίκλην Ἑψητόπουλος, λίβελλον κατηγορημάτων πλήρη συνθέμενος, ἀσμένως ἐγχειρίζει τῷ βασιλεῖ, νυκτὸς τότε οὔσης, μετὰ τὴν τῆς ὑμνῳδίας ἐκπλήρωσιν. Ὁ δέ, τοὺς παρα τυχόντας ἐκ τῶν τοῦ κλήρου συγκαλέσας ἅμα, ἠρώτα εἰ καὶ αὐτοὶ συνοίδασι 337 τῷ Ἑψητοπούλῳ τά οἱ πραχθέντα· ὡς δ' οὐκ ἦν κατανεῦσαι ἀκούοντας πλὴν ἑνὸς ἢ καὶ δευτέρου, περί τε τῶν κεφαλαίων διεπυνθάνετο καὶ ὁποίας εἴη τῆς ὑπολήψεως ὁ τὸν λίβελλον ἐγχειρίσας. Ὡς δ' ἐμαρτύρουν μὲν τῷ δόντι τὰ μέτρια, περὶ δὲ τῶν κεφαλαίων ἀπελογοῦντο ἀνάγκην